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Alternating Gradient Synchrotron
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<p>The Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) is a <a href="/facts/Particle_accelerator/Pkuc08xC">particle accelerator</a> located at the <a href="/facts/Brookhaven_National_Laboratory/L2JrG0K1">Brookhaven National Laboratory</a> in <a href="/facts/Long_Island/u42NF647">Long Island</a>, <a href="/facts/New_York_(state)/mnl67G1G">New York</a>, United States. </p><p>The Alternating Gradient Synchrotron was built on the innovative concept of the alternating gradient, or <a href="/facts/Strong_focusing/hG5pbII4">strong-focusing principle</a>, developed by Brookhaven physicists. This new concept in accelerator design allowed scientists to accelerate <a href="/facts/Proton/clCjepXP">protons</a> to energies that were previously unachievable. The AGS became the world's premiere accelerator when it reached its design energy of 33 billion electron volts (GeV) on July 29, 1960. </p><p>Until 1968, the AGS was the highest energy accelerator in the world, slightly higher than its 28 GeV sister machine, the <a href="/facts/Proton_Synchrotron/JhPI4c94">Proton Synchrotron</a> at <a href="/facts/CERN/y1gwRchm">CERN</a>, the European laboratory for high-energy physics. While 21st century accelerators can reach energies in the trillion electron volt region, the AGS earned researchers three <a href="/facts/Nobel_Prize/3z1Y3oFL">Nobel Prizes</a> and today serves as the injector for Brookhaven's <a href="/facts/Relativistic_Heavy_Ion_Collider/MhxfcI5h">Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider</a>; it remains the world's highest intensity high-energy proton accelerator. </p><p>The AGS Booster, constructed in 1991, further augments the capabilities of the AGS, enabling it to accelerate more intense <a href="/facts/Proton_beam/aES4kaGn">proton beams</a> and heavy ions such as <a href="/facts/Gold/1znknojp">Gold</a>. Brookhaven's <a href="/facts/Linear_particle_accelerator/GIz6Uc4x">linear particle accelerator</a> (LINAC) provides 200 million electron volt (MeV) protons to the AGS Booster, and the Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS) and <a href="/facts/Van_de_Graaff_generator/33gA1Ua7"> Tandem Van de Graaff</a> accelerators provide other ions to the AGS Booster. The AGS Booster then accelerates these particles for injection into the AGS. The AGS Booster also provides particle beams to the <a href="/facts/NASA_Space_Radiation_Laboratory/xFgyF4IF">NASA Space Radiation Laboratory</a>. </p>